No. I nodded. “I can handle it.”
We rushed toward the truck, which had now sunk even lower into the hood of the sedan. It was a lucky thing we got the men out when we did because the tire was already beginning to crush the top of the car down by at least a foot. The smoke was thicker now, the flames hotter. I didn’t have anything else to use, so I took off my tailored blazer, tore off a sleeve, and wrapped it around my mouth like a face mask against the smoke. I tore off other strips and wrapped my hands.
The burly stranger stepped up on the side of the truck and tugged furiously at the door. It wouldn’t open.
“Shit! It’s locked!”
“I’ll try the passenger door,” I called, racing around the back while the other men from the sidewalk jumped into the fray. I climbed up onto the step and grabbed the handle. Heat radiated through the torn fabric wrapped around my hands. The door didn’t give way. “It’s locked, too!”
What had this driver been thinking? We couldn’t get to him. He’d barrelled through a red light going at least forty miles an hour on a busy intersection. Had he been texting? Was he drunk? High? What if he was having a medical emergency and had passed out behind the wheel?
Stop letting your mind run away from you, Gabi. Just focus.
I abandoned the door while the men smashed the windows. More smoke came out of the cab. The men buried their noses in their elbows and coughed as they reached in and unlocked the doors. As soon as the burly man did this, the passenger fell out of the side of the truck and landed on top of him, splayed out unconscious on the pavement.
I rushed to their aid.
The driver was unconscious and covered in soot. I rolled him off the burly stranger, who thanked me with a grunt before dragging the driver away from the scene.
That was when I heard it. Someone begging for help.
All the men were busy working on getting the driver to safety, but there was still someone else in the burning truck. My heart leapt into my throat, and I acted without thinking. I raced back to the truck, held my breath, climbed up into the cab, and peered through the thick wall of black smoke into the passenger seat.
A girl.
She couldn’t get her seatbelt off. She was probably in her early twenties, give or take. Her face was bleeding. She was sobbing and coughing. Her eyes were red and inflamed.
“I’m here to help you!” I yelled.
“My seatbelt is stuck,” she sobbed.
I didn’t have anything on me to cut the seatbelt. I searched the glovebox. Nothing.
More smoke filled the cab. I couldn’t breathe. Visibility was getting worse. My skin was on fire.
An idea struck me.
“Drop your seat back,” I told her.
“What?”
“Drop your seat back!”
She did as she was told, reclining the seat all the way back so her head was in the backseat of the truck. I yelled at her that she had to shimmy out from under the seatbelt. We couldn’t cut through it. Luckily, she was a thin girl, and she managed to wiggle her way out. I grabbed her hand and pulled.
Something in the engine compartment blew.
The whole truck gave a great heave and collapsed at least two feet lower, crushing the sedan below us. The girl screamed. I think I did, too. I kept a tight hold on her and guided her out the driver’s side door. We spilled out onto the pavement, stumbled, and rushed away from the blaze together. I focused on putting one foot in front of the other until we got to the sidewalk, where the girl fell to her knees beside the driver of the truck, who was coming to.
He was so young. Nineteen, maybe twenty. Definitely not old enough to go drinking at a bar.
The burly stranger came to my aid. “Hey there, girl.” He put a hand on my back as I swayed on the spot. “You’d better sit down. You took in a lot of smoke.” He helped me pull the fabric away from my mouth and yelled that he needed water over here. He treated me with kindness and tipped my head back to pour water in my mouth. He tore off a strip of his shirt, poured water on that, and used it to wipe soot from my face. “You’re one reckless chick, you know that?”
My voice was a crackly croak. “Thank you.”
He smiled. “You single?”
I managed a smile too and shook my head.